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Wi-Max Deployed in Katrina Disaster Area
Spy Handler writes "In the aftermath of hurricane Katrina's destruction of telecom infrastructure in New Orleans, officials are turning to wireless broadband for use by government workers. Intel, a key backer of WiMax, and Cisco are donating wireless equipment to aid disaster workers. This could be a good opportunity to replace an antiquated system of copper wires with brand-new technology." From the article: "Shakouri and other industry experts contend that the devastation of Hurricane Katrina offers a chance to build the sort of modern network that phone and cable companies have promised for years. Such a network -- whether wireless or fiber-optic -- could deliver movies or medical records at speeds hundreds of times faster than current Internet connections. Telecom executives and analysts, though, aren't so sure it's the right time or place."
They aren't 'donating' per se -- yes, they're giving it away at no cost, but it's VERY good publicity for them.
Just think how good it sounds to have two tech companies donating tech to relief efforts. NOw, if only FEMA would get with the times and realize that not everyone uses windows/IE...
Show this to your friends and family that don't know what a real hacker is
Its times like this that the big firms should be congradulated. I dont see microsoft doing things like this *whistles*
Viable Slashdot alternatives: https://pipedot.org/ and http://soylentnews.org/
It may not be exactly "the right time and place", but as long as it isn't diverting skills and resources away from more critical, lifesaving activities, surely it can't hurt to have such things available?
$10/month: 120GB bw, SSH, CVS, Rails and 10 years' experience!
*Waits for FEMA to reject this assistance for some BS reason as well.*
I don't think extension cords will be a good idea with that much water around.
Its a good thing there arent solar flares disrupting communications at the moment. Oh wait there are.
My sympathy goes out to the victims.
>>"Telecom executives and analysts, though, aren't so sure it's the right time or place."
Why is it because of the poverty level and they won't have enough clientele? Or because they will lose all the equipment once the next hurricane hits (man vs nature - my bet is on nature but that's another discussion)
Personally, I've heard New Orleans is a big convention city and wouldn't that be a good reason to "hook them up" with this technology.
If the technology is as a good as they are touting, it will draw more people to the area for meetings/conventions would it not?
Would a Wi-Max infrastructure be any less susceptible to a hurricane than copper?
Bradley Holt
They had their chance, and handed it to the cable companies by the combined misery of ISDN deployments in the early 90s and DSL deployments in the late 90s. Maybe they can work on correct and complete Caller ID information and shutting down the waves of illegal fax spam until the next communication technology comes around.
Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
-- Dr. Spock, stardate 2822-3.
"The company considered installing wireless broadband in rebuilding, Smith said, but it found that it could recover most of its fiber network. The technologies will be used eventually. "I'm a big fan of WiMax," he said."
These products operate in the unlicensed 2.4GHz ISM band, or the licensed 2.3 GHz WCS, 2.5/2.6 GHz ITFS/MMDS, and 3.4/3.5 GHz WLL bands. Guess who owns the licensed spectrum - that's right, Bell South....big fan indeed.
Someone I speak to occasionally works in the communications industry, and after Katrina happened he started to chase up his superiors to see what can be done to deploy wireless communications in the disaster area - he made numerous calls to government officials to be told time after time that he was speaking to the *wrong* person - all the while the government were complaining "if only we had communications" - needless to say he's not been in a very good mood lately...
Better late than never I suppose, but this could have been so much more useful had it been set up earlier...
"Telecom executives and analysts, though, aren't so sure it's the right time or place."
Talk about looting a corpse! Do these people have NO shame? Wait, don't answer that...
Anything for a fucking dollar. That's probably why we're in this shit in the first place.
Any sufficiently advanced influence is indistinguishable from control.
Here's the "first post" on it right here in slashdot. Of course many simply flamed.
"Now would be a fantastic opportunity to install a citywide Wi-Fi network. If the ILEC was ever going to do it and get good press for it, now is the time. Could Intel use another test bed for Wi-Max?"
I suppose there never is a good time to install a technology that will cannibalize its bottom line.
According to TFA, "[BellSouth] expects to spend as much as $600 million to restore service on nearly half its 4.9 million lines in the gulf region and to 24 central offices, where local lines connect to the public phone network."
That's what, some $240+ per line? Thank god they're using wireless to cut costs in some instances!
Somehow I can't help but think that the price/performance comparison favours wireless...
Information: "I want to be anthropomorphized"
First it's great publicity, but more so it's a donation that could very well actually help people. Now, that said, from what I can see from the article they are just donating the base station - the mega-router, per se. Nobody has WiMax in their computers yet....
A wise man once said, "wtf h4x."
Form over function and what-not.
Blar.
"...could deliver movies or medical records at speeds hundreds of times faster than current Internet connections"
What do they really mean by "medical records"?
Quite frankly, many orgs can help people...but only Microsoft can make Windows better.
Blar.
I think fresh water, food and a place to sleep are way more important. You'd better donate something more usefull
See pictures of tits
There are lots of Katrina victims that are going to have to be permanently relocated. FEMA in its continuing bungling of the Katrina disaster seems to be overlooking that.
The American Voice has a solution that could be used to relocate some of the Katrina victims that are willing to work for what they get. The Katrina victims would be given free farms in the Western U. S. Not a bad idea imo. It gives the victims both a place to live and a way to earn a living. The farms are small family farms rather than big commercial operations. Nothing that would make anybody rich. But enough to have a nice wholesome life.
The article is Relocating the Victims of the 8/29 2005 Katrina Catastrophe. There are pros and cons to this plan. But at least someone has offered a plan that could work to relocate some of the Katrina victims.
might ring some bells
dbp cant hide anyone
I guess.
Yes, I suppose when a major U.S. city is destroyed, that is an excellent time to follow Africa's paradoxically late "lead" and just pass over copper and even fiber in some cases.
Why would they try and make this infastructure? So it can also be taken down when this shit happens again? I would not invest ANYTHING in any kind of infastructure down there until local and federal officials decide on a course of action for rebuilding the town in such a way that this won't happen again. If they can't do that, it's time to go elsewhere.
And they'll be hosting the fishing and the diving conventions just next week, while they can still enjoy the aquatic life...
It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
..as an electrical engineer and telecommunications industry employee of some years, the thought of shared wireless bandwidth exceeding cabled infrastrature makes me.. laugh? cry?
Seriously, is anyone vetting slashdot articles to make sure they have some semblance to reality?
If you actually bothered to click the link, this would NOT be rated informative.
My unholy, disgusting, pig of a boss, actually told me the other day whilst shooting his mouth off that it's too bad they don't have WiMax to deploy in New Orleans. This is a man who can't walk and chew gum at the same time. . . scary.
Well it is a good situation to update the infrastructure (although being one of the poorer areas of the US, I'd doubt they'd go too far due to a lack of major corporate backing). On that note, why would they avoid good old copper or other great technologies? The potential of copper (10-gigabit is the latest 'consumer' technology) is faster, more reliable, and more secure than any WiFi they can throw at it.
C'mon- WiFi is fun and all to save you running wires to your basement, or giving you e-mail while you check your coffee, but lets be realistic. It's a security issue. It's a reliability issue (interference, signal issues in certain areas, 'jamming'). And the spectrum only has so much room in it. Just run a few wires and call it a day.
-M
when you see the word 'Linux', drink!
It looks like some folks have started using Mesh infrastructure (that Linux based stuff from http://locustworld.net/ which will use low cost/obsolete hardware. See
http://www.the-bains.us/
*NOT* The place, and probably not the time.
Doesn't anyone realize that Mississippi and Louisiana are one of the two poorest states in the country? Who excactly would a next gen internet and cable be marketed to? There is also income data here and here. Let's not put our next gen tech. in an area that can't support it economically.
I agree that relocation is going to be necessary for many of the victims of Katrina... and providing them the option to take over a free farm is a nice idea. It's not a bad idea, as long as it is not forced upon folks.
Expensive WiMax equipment was stolen from the near lawless city of New Orleans.
Instead of blindly trashing the telephone companies. Maybe we should remember their priority and mandate is to get basic telephone service back up for THEIR customers.
Grandma betty and Aunt Sue dont need a fancy wireless internet connection they need a phone line back up so they can call their other family and tell them they not dead.
quoting the article
"The best thing for us economically and the quickest thing from a customer service view is, if the lines are just down, put them back up," he said.
(DUH!)
"The company considered installing wireless broadband in rebuilding, Smith said, but it found that it could recover most of its fiber network. The technologies will be used eventually. "I'm a big fan of WiMax," he said."
(Clue for the clueless: Fiber is still better than wireless)
Bellsouth is a BIG company they think strategically not tactically. The most economical thing for them right now is simply restore their phone lines and their fiber networks. when they roll something out they do it en mass. They will be deploying 25mpbs service to all their customers within 3 years to provide both tv, phone service, and DSL over the same line.
As someone who made it through Hurricane Frances and Jean last year, Im glad bellsouth is on the job. I never lost my DSL service even though I lost my cable for 12 days and many of my neighbors lost power for 2 weeks.
Bill is doing good, Balmer on the other hand does sweet fnck all for charity and is the 5th richest man in the world
what do you think he is saving up for ?
> >It's not a bad idea, as long as it is not forced upon folks.
According to the article, "Of course Hurricane Katrina victim participation in this plan is voluntary. It would be an offer made to the Hurricane Katrina victims -- an offer which they are free to accept or to decline."
First they brought you "broadcast".
...although it occurs to me that satellite broadcast has been doing this for decades...
Then they put your broadcast stations on your "cable".
Now they want to put your cable on a broadcast channel, including the original broadcast stations, but not on their original broadcast channels...
Maybe once in a while the hidden hand of Adam Smith draws back a bloody stump, and the socialists -- in the name of altruism, justice, mercy and common sense -- win one. Right on! Community broadband forever! Just because it's possible to act like a dog in a manger, doesn't mean it's right to act like a dog in a manger.
``Tension, apprehension & dissension have begun!'' - Duffy Wyg&, in Alfred Bester's _The Demolished Man_
Has anyone else been keeping up on the disaster through The Interdictor?
http://www.livejournal.com/users/interdictor/
I am sitting on a street in Hattiesburg, MS looking at downed cable and telephone wires, no one is hanging them up. I would like to see them do it. 25-65 megs with television and telephone with advanced services would be smart. It would help my small linux company. I am in a third world of communications down here. My dsl stayed steady minus the DNS losing power for two days, but will go down soon as my phone lines are crushed. They are clustered before all apartment entrances down the street and are being constanly smashed by SUVs.
Actually, I thought that Mississippi and Louisiana are two of the two poorest states.
Who the hell moderated this as Interesting and Insightful? WiFi (IEEE 802.11) and WiMAX (802.16) are two different beasts.
WiMAX, unlike WiFi, has a MAC layer, more bandwidth, longer range, works on licensed spectrum, has timeslot allocation (no more shared bandwidth mess) and will appearently support meshing in the near future. It's ideal for fast point-to-multipoint connections now, and if mesh ever gets into the spec, it'll be great as multipoint to multipoint.
From the telco point of view (I work for one) the costs savings when using WiMAX over copper are also pretty clear; the cost of maintaining copper pairs, sending over people to plug in new customers, or just periodic replacement of copper due to degradation is much higher than deploying WiMAX basestations. It's faster and cheaper to activate a customer. (a win-win situation)
Yeah, making Windows better is so much higher in priority than helping out in the aftermath.
(INSERT ROLLING EYES EMOTICON HERE)
If my grammar and spelling are off, I am [distracted/tired/careless] (take your pick)
Wireless Internet! Yay!
Oh, we forgot... Most of the communications infrastructure comprising the critical backhauls that carry all the traffic of the wireless endpoints have been disrupted. Entire phone company central offices are under water in some places or were. Co-location facilities have been disrupted or destroyed outright. Aerial fiber and copper have been severed all over the place.
Oh, we also forgot that people are in need of drinking water and food to eat and medical supplies to deal with everyday things that they can't deal with everyday and so those issues are mounting. Women need sanitary female supplies. Babies need diapers. Pets need food. There's a lack of electricity all over the place and fetid stinking contaminated water and mud.
Their computers have been waterlogged, their laptops blown to the next state, their PDAs lost someplace in the muck, but we have high speed wireless Internet being deployed. Yay!
(INSERT ROLLING EYES EMOTICON HERE)
If my grammar and spelling are off, I am [distracted/tired/careless] (take your pick)
Maybe you should save some money for learning how to spell names and use google properly. This is the query you wanted.
The AACS key is NOT 0xF606EEFD628B1CA427BEA93A9CA9773F
I'm SOOO sick of this utter stupidity and blind fascination so many people seem to have with wireless networks. WiMax (and any other wireless protocol) are NOT now and WILL NEVER BE a replacement for wired networks, for the simple reason that wireless can never, ever support similar bandwidth to wired networks in a given area. The fastest wireless network can't outperform a single ethernet cable.
Wireless is half-duplex.
Wireless can't even do as well at detecting collisions as a half-duplex wired network, due to the problem of hidden members.
Wireless has much greater overhead due to security requirements.
Wireless can be knocked out of service by a single chattering device.
So gee, let's take WiFi, which will normally cover about one square mile, and replace it with WiMax, which will cover hundreds of square miles. What do you think that does to the number of stations contending for access to the "network" to send a packet? Instead of dozens of potential transmitting nodes, we now have hundreds of thousands of potential nodes. And the overall throughput drops to zero.
WiMax was intended to provide long-haul point-to-point links, NOT wide area coverage. As a point-to-point medium, WiMax would still be susceptible to a simple DoS by a chattering station, but the incentive to intentionally disrupt service would be greatly reduced and the locations from which you could accidentally disrupt service would also be greatly reduced.
The "cable density" of a wired network (the number of physically separate networks an area can support) is billions of times greater for a wired network than for a wimax network covering the same area.
Am I saying WiMax is useless? Absolutely not. Am I tired of all the idiots who act like it's an acceptible means of blanketing a large area with service for individual nodes? YES. Building wimax into laptops, so the laptops can be a node on the wimax network, is stupid. It'll only cause the entire network to become useless.
please stop calling them evacuees. they prefer to be called refugees.
Several years ago I saw someone in a campground that had a large WiFi hotspot sign on the front of his motorhome. I asked how he could do that without a phone line. He said he used the satellite dish on the motorhome for his Internet connection. So wherever he went the neighboring campers would have could use his WiFi hotspot. I am not sure what the connection speed was. If his WiFi hotspot was using 802.11b it would most likely have been availible to eveyone within about 300 feet (or less if there are trees in the way).
There was actually electricty where he was camping but that would have been optional since, like most motorhomes, he had a built in generator and a large extra deep cycle battery. Some motorhomes even have solar panels on the roof to help keep their batteries charged during long camping trips to remote areas which have no utilites.
It seems to me something like that could be mounted on trucks ready to be deployed to key locations at future disasters. These mobile WiFi hot spot trucks should probably be pre-positioned around the country in safe locations just slightly outside of where disasters are most likely to occure. Then they could quickly be sent in to beef up dammaged local communications for local hospitals, disaster shelters, police and sherrifs offices, city hall, sewage treatment plants, water treatment plants and supply centers.
The mobile WiFi hotspots could supplement the role that local ham radio clubs and organizations play in many parts of the country. Where I live, the local ham radio club has had a close working relationship for many years with local city and county officials. They already have their own ham radio antennas mounted on the hospital, city hall and other key locations. The local club has volunteer hams who have plenty of extra batteries and are ready to go to key locations such as those as well as firestations, the police station and elsewhere. I am not personally involved with that, so I do not know many of the details. I am a licensed ham radio operator and have never really been active with the hobby so am not sure about all the details. One of the past past mayors of or town was a ham so perhaps that might partially explain the close relationship that local city and county emergency officials have with the hams.
After seeing what happened with Katrina, I do not believe that we should depend on FEMA or the federal government for such key emergency services. They not only failed to respond in a timely manner but, in several cases blocked other organizations from going to the area or doing there jobs properly. Others such as perhaps the Red Cross should have mobile WiFi hotspots with satellite based Internet connections ready to go. City and country officials should establish a close working relationship with local hams and do an occasional practice emergency drill.
Here's a thought, how about we don't build cities below sea level? I know there is a lot of beautiful stuff in New Orleans and all that historical value etc, but perhaps we shouldn't be building cities or rebuilding cities that are apparently very much destroyed where they are below sea level. Give up on it and move off the coast a ways and build there. I understand the New Orleans wasn't alwyas below sea level and it sank due to the crappy marsh land it's built on, but "It is a foolish man who builds his house upon the shifting sands." Maybe we can find a solid foundation this time around?
Why are China and some 3rd world nations surpassing the US in broadband and cellular use. Because they had a clean slate and so they did not have the legacy systems that hold us all back today. Maybe this will be a good thing for the South as they now seem to have a clean slate. I read a great book that touched on this called the World is Flat...
Oh are you implying the hurricane? Hmmm...well you know what? Yeah. It is. People die ALL THE FUCKING TIME. You're just all worked up because it happened to YOUR COUNTRY and you see all the heart-breaking stories on the news. Guess what douchebag, check out the Sudan some time, or many other African nations. Provincial over-emotional twit.
And yeah. Lots of groups give money to help the needy. MS's contribs are a drop in the bucket. Their money would be better spent making windows more secure so that such vast ammounts of time and effort are not wasted.
Blar.